Gimme Shelter

I have always been a dog person. But not the kind of dog person you see nowadays who spends more on a dog bed than on their own mattress, feeds their pet designer food and dresses them up in tutus, I’m just a genuine dog lover interested in giving a dog a loving home. When I talked to my dog Biscuit, an honorary canine member of the Sisterhood, she thought it was a good idea to do a blog post about shelter dogs, particularly since she herself was a shelter dog. And so, here’s the story of dogs I have known and loved.

Cindy

We weren’t really a pet family growing up but when we moved to another province in my teen years, my parents gave in and got me a dog. I’m sure they were hoping that it might help smooth my transition to a new home.

Enter Cindy, a purebred long haired dachsund, who very quickly became my closest companion through my teenage and young adult years. In my dating years, Cindy also played an important role in determining who might be suitable dating material for me. If they didn’t like dogs, there was no second date. Fortunately my then boyfriend and now husband passed the dog lover test with flying colours!

Over the years my parents became very attached to Cindy also, and when I left home to start my adult life, Cindy stayed behind to help my empty nester parents adjust.

She lived to the ripe old age of 119 human years and I still miss her.

Meesha

A few years after we were married, my husband and I decided it was time to get a dog. We knew we didn’t have time for a puppy. Not that we didn’t want a puppy, but we knew we wouldn’t be able to dedicate the proper amount of time raising and training one with our busy schedules. So we opted to adopt a dog from one of our local shelters.

Our priorities were pretty simple – a dog that was housebroken and good with people. And so with this in mind, we set off on a tour of the local shelters. It was a busy tour and it took us about six months before we found the dog we thought would be a good fit.

Her name was Meesha. She was a medium sized German shepherd cross with the biggest brown eyes you’ve ever seen. We took her for a walk, and I immediately fell in love, my husband not so much. Since I was the chief dog person in the family, I decided that Meesha was our dog. So we paid our $75.00 and we were on our way.

Once we got home it took Meesha a little while to settle in and work her charms on my husband, but in relatively short order, we all became fast friends. This despite the fact that she destroyed two packs of paper towels the first time left her alone!

Over the course of the 14 years Meesha was with us, we had many, many walks, including the time we went for a walk in the snow and a certain someone thought they had lost their phone, only to find it was safe at home on the kitchen table the entire time (hint: it was not me or Meesha). Meesha and I also had many good talks on our walks and solved a lot of the world’s problems while we were at it. 😂

Although we didn’t know it at first Meesha was also a guard dog of sorts. She spent many hours guarding us against the nefarious squirrels and racoons that would often wander into our back yard. Thank goodness none of them ever made it into the house.

Sadly, the day came when it was time to say good bye to Meesha who had provided us with so many years of companionship, and love. It was a hard day, as I am sure many dog owners can relate to, but in the end it was time.

Biscuit

About six months after Meesha’s passing we were finding it hard to come home to an empty house, so we decided to get another dog. We embarked on shelter tour 2.0 and this time it did not take us very long to find a dog we loved, but we also discovered that the adoption process had changed dramatically. We had to fill out a three page application form and wait until we were approved by the shelter before we could take the dog home. It took about three days before we got the call that we were approved.

Right away I called mom and we hopped in the car, and picked up our new dog named Biscuit. I knew we had picked the right dog when about five minutes into our drive home mom and Biscuit were snuggled together in the back seat, both fast asleep.

Biscuit and I spent that entire first day at home bonding and before long she was constantly by my side. At first she was very shy with my husband, but after a few days she decided he was OK and settled in nicely with both of us.

Biscuit has been part of our family for about 10 years now and, as with Meesha, Biscuit gets to go for long walks and trips to the dog park. She even goes on vacation with us when we head down the Oregon Coast. Biscuit tells me it’s one of her favourite places to go.

At 70 human years old, Biscuit still has as much energy as the Energizer bunny and we look forward to many more years and adventures with her.

And so, it seems only fitting to leave the last words to Biscuit: “If you are looking for a dog, please check out your local shelter. There are so many great dogs, like me, waiting for good homes.”

We plan on publishing a new post every Monday, so stay tuned for our next one entitled “Revenge Of The Book Nerds.”